where we’re all just effin soldiers!
Miami announced their finalized 2009 home and away schedule.
This is not their actual schedule with dates for all games, as the conference slate is still TBA.
Home:
Oklahoma 10/3
Florida A&M 10/10
Duke
Georgia Tech
Clemson
Virginia
Away:
Florida State 9/7 (most likely)
Central Florida 10/17
South Florida 11/28
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Virginia Tech
God the ACC slate sucks. I don’t know how Seminole fans survived the ’90’s.
This one is so illogical, so dumbfounding, so incomprehensible……
Wait a second….phone transcript coming in over the AP wire….
Tommy Tuberville: ‘Ello?
Randy Shannon: Tommmmeeeeee!! What’s going on?
TT: Randyyyyyyyyyy!!! What’s up my brother from anotha motha?! (pause) Oh, you know, nothing much.
RR: You busy?
TT: Well….yeah, Randy, I kind of am-
RR: Tommy, hold it right there. Did I ever tell you the studs I have on my defense? Look at this list of guys. Look!
TT: That’s great Randy, I remember the kids we used to get down there in the ’80’s with Jimmy, but…like I said…I’m kind of busy right now-
RR: Tommy-did you say Jimmy? What a coincidence! I have him on speaker right here! (whispers into Jimmy Johnson’s ear).
Jimmy Johnson: Huh-what! Randy, goddamit, you said I could borrow your car to drive down to the Keys. I have this week off you know!
TT: Jimmy! Hey! But Randy, what’s this all about? I’m pretty busy up here.
RR: Well, Tommy, you might of heard, but….
JJ: Randy! I’m out! Tubs-adios! Randy-I’ll have the car back by Super Bowl Sunday!
RR: Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. No problem coach. (Door slams). Uh, Tommy, like I was saying, we, you know, sort of, have an opening-
TT: Randy-you’re not giving me your smug cocky face over the phone are you??
RR: (blushes) What! No! Never to you Tubs! (uncomfortable pause) So, yeah, Tommy, about that open spot….aren’t you hurting for money a little bit now that Auburn let you go?
TT: Hahaha! Hell no! And as part of my severance they gave me my own transportation service. And it’s Green. I just have to feed it bananas every twenty minutes. (pause) Randy… (laughter) wait-are you asking me to come be your Defensive Coordinator? As in, I’d be under you?
RR: Uh……well….
(inaudible laughter over receiver, hard to decipher words)
(30 seconds pass)
RR: So….anyways Tommy….can I count you in?
TT: (stifling laughter) Randy….(more laughter)….Randy, uh, I’m kind of busy. I need to clean up my yard. I haven’t been back there since the Iron Bowl. How about a rain check on that thought, and I’ll get back to ya?
RR: (sighs) Yeah, ok. That’s fine. Talk to you later.
TT: Ok, great Randy. Good talking to you. Bye.
(They both hang up the phone. )
TT: (quiet laughter) Whew. Man, that Randy! Always a jokester!
(Phone rings)
TT: ‘Ello?
Lane Kiffin: Is this Tommy Tuberville? Former Head Coach of….(whispers) fuck, where is it….former Head Coach of Auburn?
TT: Yes. Who is this?
LK: This is Lane Kiffin. I’d like to offer you a spot on my staff as Second Assistant Secondary Coach. Interested?
TT: Wait….Kiffin…Kiffin…the little fucker who just got hired at Tennessee? And is bringing in all that coaching talent so even he can’t fuck it all up? Who hasn’t proven jack-shit and just replaced a close friend of mine with a national title? That Lane Kiffin?
LK: Yessir. That’s me.
TT: How much we talking here? I’m kind of busy right now.
LK: $1.25 million.
TT: Where do I sign?
(end transcript)
Lets review:
There is no way in the name of The Judge that Tubs comes to a private school for a step down career wise. This guy just spent that past 14 years at public schools, in the SEC, which also have no NFL teams. And he’s going to come to Miami? Favors and past lives do not count for that much in life. Let’s all move on now, please.
Back up that truck load of offensive talent in Coral Gables, right here...
Shannon actually went after McNulty when he was hired at Miami back in 2006, and McNulty turned him down, citing the lack of offensive talent. Uh, dickhead perhaps? Shouldn’t Randy disqualify him on those grounds alone? Some retribution? As much as we’d all like that, pure hatred is dead in sports these days. You have the obvious relationship stemming from Schiano from his Miami DC days, so that no doubt is playing into Randy’s thought process. And McNulty was up for the Alabama OC job last year, so that will definitely add some reputation clout to his hiring potential.
Rutgers’ offense this year was actually pretty good, considering they don’t really have any talent, no matter what ESPN will lead you to believe. Schiano is overrated. Any competent coach should be able to take any BCS school, even the perpetual shit storm that is Rutgers, to a great season or two. In this day and age of 85 scholarships, the playing field is leveled out. With the offense losing stud Ray Rice, many thought QB Mike Teel would be total shit this year, but guess what, he was pretty good. Sure, some of that can be attributed to him being a senior, but Rutgers had zero rushing attack this year, and finished second to last in the conference.
The good for McNulty? Rutgers conference finishes this year:
Passing Offense: #1 (270 yards per game)
Passing Efficiency: #1 (60 % completion rate; 144.79 rating)
Scoring Offense: #1 (29 ppg)
Total Offense: #1 (398 yards per game)
We all the Big East is not exactly an offensive powerhouse. In fact, with Louisville in the shitter and Rich Rod gone to Michigan, Cincinnati is about the only team with a competent offensive name branded coach. But compare those stats with what Miami did this year under UberCoach Nix (196 passing ypg, 117.91 passer rating, 29 ppg, 326 total ypg), and McNulty is working it with less talent and against arguably better defenses. Throw in the fact he recruited a 4-star QB recruit in Tom Savage to Rutgers, who is #8 nationally at his position, and McNulty could have the makings of a nice fit to a name brand school to be surrounded by shit loads of talent. I’m still for Langsford and Whipple over him right now, but wouldn’t be crying for Rob Chudzinski’s return either if he got the gig.
I'll be right up there Coach. So when you want to let the media blame another 3 loss season with your underachieving team on a coordinator, you know where to find me.
First in our rundown of potential defensive coordinators is none other than a home grown Coral Gables product, Willie Martinez. Currently serving the same position with Georgia under Mark “I get way too much credit for multiple 2 and 3 loss seasons” Richt, he has been in that role since 2005.
Martinez’s name is already being thrown around Miami because of his previous relationships to the school. It is his Alma Mater, he is from the Gables, and even played on the 1983 national title team. I like that he was a DB when he played; I always feel that creates better coaches, I don’t know why. Maybe I just think being further back from the ball you learn and see more of what’s going on.
I am on record as saying Georgia was vastly overrated this year, with their marquee win coming against another team, Michigan State, that didn’t have a quality win of their own in a horrendous year for the Big Ten. Georgia got smoked against the two teams it played with a pulse, Florida and Alabama. And then they were torn a new one by Paul Johnson and his triple option. Well, us Cane fans are used to that! Somebody get this guy an offer letter!
Then you look at this paper stats, and they are not looking good. Maybe the Dawg fans are correct in their assertion they would welcome Big Willie’s dismissal or resignation. Stats?
| Points Against | Yards Against | |
| 2005 | 14.6 | 297.8 |
| 2006 | 17.1 | 264.0 |
| 2007 | 21.0 | 324.7 |
| 2008 | 25.6 | 318.3 |
Ouch. Dem Stats don’t lie. Georgia’s defense got progressively worse since his arrival, culminating with their 10th place finish in the SEC this year in Points Allowed. I was talking myself into Martinez as the perfect caretaker of the soon to be talent rich Hurricane defense, the guy who knows the Gables personally, can sell the recruits on the area and specifically the program, but those stats are eating away at the logic in my brain. You don’t get worse almost every year and warrant a new gig. I still think Martinez could be a good choice, even a great one. I’d rather Randy be calling the plays, but he’s said that the duties of the HC are too much to also run the defense. So, I guess I’m on board for the Martinez hire. The SEC is much tougher than the ACC. Miami will have superior athletes. Sean Spence is a beast. (That’s right Anton, talk yourself past those stats….)
Randy hates the cold. And all you Polly Prissy Pants Cane fans. Pull on an officially licensed wool coat and grow a pair!
Well at least this loss was quick and to the jugular. News becomes public yesterday afternoon, 24 hours later, he’s gone. I like the brevity.
Now, what is next for Miami? Will the hell fires reign down on Randy’s defensive recruiting class until Urban steals every last one of them and Miami goes 0-12 next year? Uh, maybe? I keed, I keed. Bill Young was not known as a recruiter by any means. He was a 61 year old X’s and O’s guy. I didn’t want him to leave, but I don’t believe there really will be any drop off.
This year’s defense was either tremendously young or tremendously shittay, depending on the position. Either way, it couldn’t tackle, let alone find, who the hell had the ball against Ga Tech. There is no depth, especially on the D-Line. Each recruiting class will address this problem until it becomes a strength.
Randy subscribes to the theory of “He who has the best players, wins.” His vaunted defenses of his coordinator days would run a basic 4-3 scheme, rotate in two waves of D-linemen, get relentless pressure with just the 4 man rush, and let the back seven create plays with their athelticism. Once Dorsey and Co. put some touches on the board, said D-Line would pin it’s ears back and really start the ruckus. Start the mother fuckin’ ruckus! Bam. More turnovers, short field, touchdown, rinse, repeat. Game over.
The new DC, even if Randy decides to wisely take over the reins if he doesn’t find a suitable candidate, will be able to put this side of the ball on auto-pilot. Teach them up in practice, make sure they are making the correct reads, and let them play. It’s the offensive side that needs to give the D a lead to work with. Just like a pitcher in baseball.
The “turmoil” of the past few weeks is completely media and crazy fan base driven. Randy Shannon and Miami are in the early stages of a fantastic partnership, not unlike that of Bill Belicheck and the Patriots. Yeah, yeah I know Randy has not done shit yet. But do the Pats fans worry when they lose coordinator after coordinator to other teams? Of course not. They learned post Weis and Crennel that the only guy who matters is the top dog, Billy B. Give him solid quarterback play, and he will get you to the playoffs 4 out of 5 years. Give him great play and he will take you undefeated and on the cusp of the best season in history. It’s a difficult argument to make at this point, but I believe we are in the Browns days of Belicheck’s career with Randy right now. Miami just doesn’t have the depth or the experience of players to lead to compete right now. You want to get rid of the best chance in the history of the program to have a stable coaching situation for the next 15 years? Randy is creating something special, we just have to be patient and see it out.
Lieutenant Anton out.
Don't we all wish we had a T Boone
Okstate.com has confirmed Miami’s DC Bill Young will be leaving the Canes to take the same position with Oklahoma State. This is definitely an unexpected turn for Randy in his OC search, let alone leading up to National Signing Day in a couple weeks. More to follow soon.
This is old news, and I only caught it after reading the ultimate Canes writer Bruce Feldman link to it, but it’s too great a story to pass up.
Jamaal Green, who led the 2001 National Title team in sacks, has re-emerged as a Border Patrol agent in El Paso, TX. Talk about a career change. I think this story is fantastic. He got his degree in Criminology, and spoke openly about his health being more important than a long term NFL career.
“They (co-workers) said, “That’s crazy that you would do that, leave your dream to come to the Border Patrol,’ ” Green said. “I tell them that was never my dream….In my position (as defensive end), it’s so brutal that by the age of 45 you might not be able to walk straight. My health is more important than the extra money.”
This is also a great excuse to pimp a great underrated movie, one forgotten too soon, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Barry Pepper is one of my favorites actors, fantastic in The 25th Hour, and also pretty good in this. Gotta love the Southwest Texas landscapes.
Now, if Jamaal somehow manages to catch my namesake, trying to cross over into Juarez, he deserves a fucking Congressional Medal of Honor.
Dammit! Get your Jesuit ass back here! What happened to getting all the second best Catholics in the country???
These guys with Boston College ties just won’t die! In comes another well-talked about OC name in Steve Logan, most recently the offensive coordinator under Jeff Jagodzinski. I guess once Coach Jags deciding to get himself fired Logan wanted out as well. Can’t really blame him. BC is at best a perennial 9 win team, with the once every 15 years squad who gets a Matt Ryan type player during the perfect season of an entire down year for all teams, and they still end up with a bunch of losses. You’ll never win an national title there, and now that they got all “That’s my Gameboy!” and had to follow Va Tech and Miami to the ACC, they won’t be winning any league titles either. When you can’t beat a one trick pony Virginia Tech team two years running, it’s just not going to happen.
Logan best resume guaging ability was his time with East Carolina, Head Coach from 1992-2002. He is their all-time winningiest coach (69-58), and pretty much put the program on the map with 5 bowl appearances. I recall vividly a 1999 Thursday night win against Miami that seemed huge when I was in high school.
I think a lot of Hurricane fans are putting too much thought into the fact Logan was the Head Coach of the East Carolina team that demolished Miami 31-6, back in 1996. Get over it people. This guy grabbed lightning in a bottle with Matt Ryan, and they both had a great year together. Give him credit, because Ryan was not that great his junior year, definitely not top 3 NFL draft pick material. BC, Jagodzinski, and Logan all benefited from a huge downturn in the entire ACC conference.
Steve Logan is definitely one of the better coaches available. Could Logan do wonders with Miami’s talent level? Absolutely. I just feel he would sign his offer letter with Miami, and while he’s walking to his new office, would be thinking when he will start contacting new places for his own HC job. This guy is too NFL. Miami needs someone more ready to stick around for at least 4 years, someone less name-proven. And frankly, BC sucks. Anytime I watch them, even with Ryan last year, I never got the sense their offense was tearing it up. Ryan would have some deep balls thrice a game, and that was that. Next!
Be sure to catch the second part of my ACC recruiting over at Canespace. Today I breakdown the aptly named Coastal division, home of the Canes.
With all this Bill Young to Oklahoma State talk garnering steam, I still want to squeeze out some more names being thrown around for the OC job.
Mark Whipple, currently an Offensive Assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, is a candidate many on the Hurricanes message boards and blogs want badly. To be honest, I had never heard of Whipple before a few weeks ago. His most notable position is definitely his stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a QB coach, from 2004-06. He was around for Big Ben’s rise to NFL stardom, and was given the appropriate credit. But, it doesn’t seem like Big Ben has had any drop off since Whipple’s dismissal, so add that into the mental equation as a candidate.
Whipple does have extensive college coaching experience, however, all of it was in D-1AA. Stints at New Haven, Brown, and UMass, he won the AFCA coach of the year award in 1998, so he has that going for him. Only 51 years old, Whipple would have a lot more years to give to Miami, and probably still harbors thoughts on leading his own D1 program.
Personally I don’t have him in my top 3. He seems to me just an NFL guy, who hasn’t even been a coordinator, with a (very short) rep as a good QB coach. Maybe Andy Reid is repping him hard (uh oh), but I’m just not sold on the guy. I’d much rather have a young gun, ready and willing to take chances, to lift Jascory into the next stratosphere.
